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Classroom managementand Discipline

JBA 451

Presenter: Dr Muavia Gallie (PhD)

Department of Education Management and Policy Studies

11 February 2010

07h30 - 09h20

Some Introductory Remarks …1

• “Maintain order”• “Motivate learners”• “Recurring problems”• “Discipline without angeror tears”

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Some Introductory Remarks …2

Discipline UndisciplinedBehaviour

Turn-around

strategies

Purpose of thisconversation is to take

on a ‘big picture’perspective ofDiscipline inEducation

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Focus of the conversation itabout getting all of us to be

prepared to:

• Forgive• Do ‘the right’ thing• Move beyond ‘what is in it for me’• Make a difference in ‘the education

system’ and more importantly, thelives of our learners

Essence of theconversation:

10% - 90%

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89

“Problems cannot be solved by thinking

within the framework in which the problems

were created.” - Albert Einstein

Knotsby R.D. Lange

There is something I don’t knowThat I am supposed to know

I don’t know what it is I don’t knowAnd yet I am supposed to know

And I feel I look stupidIf I seem both not to know it

And not know what it is I don’t knowTherefore I pretend to know it

This is nerve-racking since I don’t knowWhat I must pretend to know

Therefore, I pretend I know everything.

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The Education Terrain

• 1 National Department ofEducation

• 9 Provincial Departments forEducation

• Over 180 Districts• Over 25 000 schools• Over 400 000 educators• Over 12 000 000 learners

Over 25 000 schools

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Gauteng

Atteridgeville

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Mrs Maunatlala

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SectionOne

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Origin of ‘Discipline’John F. Covaleskie in ‘Dewey, Discipline and Democracy’, p.1

“A discipline was originally a way of life. It is inthis sense that subjects of study are called“disciplines”. To study mathematics is to submitoneself willingly to the demands of the study itself.To be a mathematician is to enter into a way ofliving at least a part of one’s life. However, there isan interesting paradox in this view of discipline: onemaster a discipline in the act of submitting to it. Solong as one resists the demands of mathematicaldiscipline, one never quite become amathematician. But when one yields to thediscipline of the subject, one becomes at thesame time its master.”

Discipline• Discipline is not a thing• It is a description of the way we act in pursuit of our

goals• To pursue a goal requires that we be able to see and

understand what it is that we are pursuing as we act• If children can’t see the purpose of an activity as

their own purpose, then the activity is meaningless• Without goals, there is no aim;• Without aim, we can’t exercise foresight;• Without foresight, we can’t determine the best

sequence of action, taking into account the obstaclesin the way;

• We can’t therefore, consider alternative courses ofaction t hat might have a higher likelihood of success.

• “A child’s interest”

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Do we have the order wrong?

•Disciplined behaviour improved learning

•Improved learning disciplined behaviour

• If the tasks assigned in schooldo not engage the mind, thenthe mind will seek employmentelsewhere

• Order in a class can be obtainedwhen we present the learnerswith engaging tasks thatgenerate their own order

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Different Perspectives

Understanding the situation well

SectionTwo

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Schooling and Education• Schooling:- Specific, formalised process, whose general pattern varies little from one setting to the next- Throughout a country, children arrive at school approximately the same time, take assigned

seats, are taught by an adult, use similar textbooks, do homework, take examinations, and soon.

- The slices of reality that are to be learned have usually been limited by the boundaries of thesubject been taught.

- For example, learners know that they are not likely to find out in their classes the truth aboutsocio-economic problems in their communities.

- There are definite conditions surrounding the formalised process of schooling- It is a form of ‘domesticating’ people, making them ‘fit in’ to what ever the demands of the

social group.- Its function is to mould, shape, and fashion the minds, bodies and behaviours of people.- It employs a pedagogy of instruction in what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, what are ‘facts’ and what

are not, what is ‘good’ and what is ‘bad’.- Emphasis is given to learning information and repeating this information in tests that are

marked according to the extent that the repetition is faithful to some original text.- Memory therefore is accorded prime place.- Schooling depends on there being an authority (teacher, the textbook, etc.) to authorise what

is going to be counted as correct and worthy of some certificate or other symbol of‘accreditation’.

- The locus of power is external to the learner.

Components of ‘Schooling’

• Time• Classrooms• Books• Age specific groups in grades• Uniform curricula• Replicable behaviour• Fragmented subjects• Abstract content

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The ‘Violence’ before the ‘undisciplinedbehaviour’, which will lead to violence

Seeing it! Understanding it!

Specific issues:1. Do we know every child in our class/school?

[Self – esteem, mood, image, sexuality, negative thought,appreciation, affirmation; Family – independence,responsibility; Friends – peer relationships, emotional space;Community – school, high-risk behaviour and factors; Bridges– challenges, opportunities]

2. Do we know ourselves (the adults), and inrelation to others? Do we perform at ouroptimum? Do we know our ‘stuff’?

3. Difference between education and schooling?4. ‘One-size-fits-all’ approach5. Homework6. Positivist thinking7. Individual vs Group/team activities

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Specific issues:8. Are learners and learning at the centre of

‘what we do’?9. What does it mean to be ‘developmental’

rather than ‘judgemental’?10. Do we give second and third chances?11. Are we as adults consistent in our

behaviour?12. Things kids have no control over13. Empty promises/statements14. ??

Example 1

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Business Day9 Nov 2004

p.11

Example 2

… Only 14% of schoolsin 2001 reported that

their maths and scienceeducators had what

government considersthe minimum level of

qualification.

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Example 3

Executive Summary (p.xi)

• Educators in South Africanspend an average 41hours working per week –and not 43 hours, as isexpected;

• An average of 16 hoursper week is spent teaching(or 3.2 hours a day) out ofan expected range ofbetween 22.5 – 27.5 hoursper week;

Example 4

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Success rate = 8,1%

•Success-rate of the system = 8,1%•Of every 12 learners starting GradeOne, only 1 learner attains what thesystem is promising them - data 2005!

Dysfunctionality vis-à-vis Under-performanceFigure 10: Three levels of school functionality in relation to the support needed by

schools

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% -10% -20%

Non-Functioning -20% – +20%

Low-Functioning 21% - 60%

High-Functioning 61% - 100%

Basics

Gallie 2006

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Example 5

• 2005 Statistics• Of those who wereunemployed, 72,8% ofthem were Youthsbetween the ages of 18 to35 years.

• Education:- Much more open-ended and all-inclusive that schooling- Education knows no bounds. It can take place anywhere,

whether in the shower or in the job, whether in a kitchen or on atractor.

- It includes both the formal learning that takes place in schoolsand the whole universe of informal learning.

- The agents of education can range from a grandparent to thepeople debating on the radio, from a child to a distinguishedscientist.

- Whereas schooling has a certain predictability, education quiteoften produces surprises.

- People are engaged in education from infancy on.- Education is the process of exploring alternative ways of

thinking, doing, believing, expressing one’s self.- The process through which one forms one’s own judgement

independently of those who set themselves up to be the judges ofothers.

- Education depends on dialogue between people of equals.- It is about freedom of thought, judgement and action.- Is about being creative, spontaneous, innovative, etc.

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Philosophy of Education• Education is a process of mutual growth, so that ultimately there is

neither learner nor teacher. Someone may at one moment be theteacher, but at another moment will be the learner. Accordingly, wedon’t presume to reveal hidden wisdom to the learners; rather,together they seek the truth. In this search, education is a growth inwisdom and compassion.

• Education is the exercise of mutual respect grounded in theteachings of non-ego and emptiness. Mutual respect is theacknowledgment of the innate integrity of all conscious beings.Education flourishes only when learner and teacher alike accept eachother as they are and respect each other for what they are.

• Education is transformation which advances only when changecomes about in one’s behaviour and attitude. True education ismarked by those changes that increase one’s practice of wisdom andcompassion.

• Education is a long process. It brings the ignorant, ordinary personfrom a state of suffering and frustration, to one of awakening fromgreed, hatred, and delusion. Understanding gained at one stage inthis process may not appear as behaviour until a much later time;thus the success or failure of the educational process cannot bemeasured in terms of today or tomorrow.

SectionThree

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Learning Centered Education

Four Pillars

• Learning to know• Learning to do• Learning to live together• Learning to be

Diverse Perspectives

Job

Spiritual

Meaning

Problem Examination

Value

Community

Learner

Teacher

…………CenteredEducation

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Focus of Learning/Thinking

Managementof schools

Evaluation

Contents Approaches

Schools

Curriculum

Teachers

LearningCentered…………

New roles …

• Learners as teachers;• Teachers as coaches• Parents as role models;• Community as sources of

information;• Technology as networked project-

based learning provider

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New Assumptions …

• Goals of education• Nature of learning• Role of instruction• Importance of inter-disciplinary

approach• Development of higher-level attitudes• Importance of assessing reasoning

Learning Centeredness isHolistic

• Learning that implies ‘learning tolearn’ in depth by covering all possiblefacets of life;

• Continuous learning for whole span oflife;

• Contents will have the flavour of life-like and life-wide experiences fromdifferent kinds of activities;

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Learning Centeredness is socialand contextual

• Methods of cooperative learning receive high priority• High attention for the formulation of shared visions on

continuing basis• Learn to examine our mental models that dictate our

thinking and actions• Use the skills of critical thinking for examining the

mental models• Shift from focusing on ‘talent’ to broad based

‘development’• Individual development should not dominate over

group development• Learning process must support high standards for all

kinds of learners living on any platform of social reality

Challenges for Teachers1. Thoughtful Preparation

• Spend more time thinking about the ‘big questions’ related to WHY,WHAT, WHO and HOW to teach

• Need to have thoughtful discussions with ourselves and ourcolleagues about our teaching philosophy and what it means to be aneducated person

• We need to address the following questions for learners:- How do we think through issues?- How do we organise knowledge, add to the knowledge base,recognise and test new knowledge?- What is our philosophical base?- How do we approach questions of ethics?- With what theoretical questions are we most concerned?- How do we use the knowledge we acquire?- How do we apply what we know?- How do we recognise unmet needs?- How does what we learn make the world a better place?- What stimulates our enthusiasm? - Etc.

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CfT – 2. Constructing thecurriculum

• Define learner’s responsibilities• Define teacher’s role and responsibility to

learners• Provide a clear statement of intended outcomes

and learner outcomes• Establish standards and procedures for

evaluation• Acquaint learners with logistics• Establish a pattern of communication between

teacher and learners

CfT – 3. Teachers understand theABC of learning

• Learning – how is it gained?• What is the difference between objectives-

based and outcomes-based education,behaviourism and constructivism, Passiveand active learning, deep and surfacelearning, formative and summativeassessment, information and knowledge,being knowledgable and skillful, basic andcore skills, sources and resources ineducation, coaching and mentoring, disciplineand control, rules and guidelines, textbooksand learning support material?

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Teaching is one thing …Learning is another

• “What do you mean you don’t know this, Itaught it therefore you must have learned it.”

• It is your job to explain until I understand.• Teachers normally teach something they

had no trouble to learn.• What does it feels like to have to “struggle

to learn something”, especially somethingthat doesn’t seem to have anything to dowith your life?

Conclusion

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Quotes - Teaching• The best learners … often make the worst teachers.

They are, in a very real sense, perceptuallychallenged. They cannot imagine what it must be liketo struggle to learn something that comes so naturallyto them. – Stephen Brookfield

• Teaching is about helping someone else learn. – L.D.Fink

• Tell me and l forget. Show me and l remember.Involve me and l understand. – Chinese proverb

• The true teacher defends his pupils against his ownpersonal influence. – A.b. Alcott

• The secret of education is respecting the pupil. – R.W.Emerson

• It’s not what is poured into a student that counts, butwhat is planted. – L. Conway

Quotes – Being a teacher

• Setting an example is not the main meansof influencing another, it is the onlymeans. – Albert Einstein

• No man can be a good teacher unless hehas feelings of warm affection toward hispupils and a genuine desire to impart tothem what he himself believes to be ofvalue. – Bertrand Russel

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Quotes - Learning• “There is no difference between living and learning … it is

impossible and misleading and harmful to think of them asbeing separate. Teaching is human communication and like allcommunication, elusive and difficult … we must be wary of thefeeling that we know what we are doing in class. When we aremost sure of what we are doing, we may be closest to being abore.” – J. Holt, What do I do Monday?

• “Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when Igot to school and tried to share learning with other students thatwas called cheating. The curriculum sent the clear message tome that learning was a highly individualistic, almost secretive,endeavour.” – H.A. Giroux

• “Learning from programmed information always hides realitybehind a screen.” – I. Illich

• “Students learn what they care about, from people they careabout and who, they know, care about them …” – Barbara H.Carson

Quotes - Education• “All education springs from some image of the future. If the

image of the future held by a society is grossly inaccurate, itseducation system will betray its youth.” – Alvin Toffler

• “The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of itsyouth.” - Erasmus

• “Information can’t replace education.” – Imparato and Itarari• “Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open

one.” – Malcom S. Forbes• “Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without

losing your temper.” – Robert Frost• “Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were

a year ago.” – Berenson Bernard• “Sixty years ago I knew everything; now I know nothing;

education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” WillDurant

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Redeemer

Contact details:• E-mail: muavia@mweb.co.za;

or muavia.gallie@up.ac.za;

• Fax: 0866720520

• Powerpoint website: www.slideshare.net

Thank You!